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Tulsa TV Memories Guestbook 207 TTM main | What's new on TTM? | GB Archive
"My Mother, the Car" - worst show ever? Don't tell that to "American Idol!"
Mike has solved the W-Wall (It may be inexact but I believe the sentiment is preserved.) As a senior in high school, our webmaster solved/proved a topological conjecture proposed by Danish physicist Piet Hein among an international community of mathematicians, amateurs and dilettantes. He was rightly proud of his accomplishment and in typical fashion, he composed the above quoted self-deprecating parody in celebration. All hail the wizard and all props to him.
That's definitely way too much horn-tooting over a SOMA puzzle proof, solved simultaneously by a number of people. (The SOMA puzzle was often featured in the "Mathematical Games" column of Tulsa native Martin Gardner in Scientific American magazine.)
I picture you as the great Wizard pulling levers and punching keys to keep us amazed and in awe of not only Tulsa TV Memories but the WORLD! And we thank you for your leadership, at least I do. P.S. Don't talk trash about MR.ED
May he rest in peace... in Tahlequah. Was it Erling who spurred Tahlequahans (is that how you say it?) to put up the "Ed Stone"?
Per CNN.com: Weaver also was an activist for protecting the environment and combating world hunger. He served as president of Love Is Feeding Everyone (LIFE), which fed 150,000 needy people a week in Los Angeles County. He founded the Institute of Ecolonomics, which sought solutions to economic and environmental problems. He spoke at the United Nations and Congress, as well as to college students and school children about fighting pollution and starvation. "Earthship" was the most visible of Weaver's crusades. He and his wife Gerry built a solar-powered Colorado home out of recycled tires and cans. The thick walls helped keep the inside temperature even year around. "When the garbage man comes," Jay Leno once quipped, "how does he know where the garbage begins and the house ends?" Weaver responded: "If we get into the mindset of saving rather than wasting and utilizing other materials, we can save the Earth."
He was a good guy. I've seen that unusual house of his on HGTV. I see in the CNN article that he enrolled at OU after WWII and qualified for the Olympic decathlon.
Webmaster: The Warren, huh-yeah-huh-yeah gag was funny but it wore thin after awhile. I do remember Jack Burns as part of the comedy team Burns and Schreiber and thought their act was pretty funny. An interesting factoid to all this discussion. Jack Burns was up for the lead in "My Mother The Car" the same year (1965) he got the "Warren" role and his comedy partner Avery Schreiber was a regular cast member on "My Mother The Car" considered by many to be the worst television show ever. So put that in your ole File-o-fax for future reference. Any word yet on the Bean Chowder taste test extravaganza?
The Warren site cited below contains this complementary File-o-Fax-toid: "My Mother The Car" star Jerry Van Dyke played a deputy for one episode on "The Andy Griffith Show".
I just saw where Dennis "Chester" Weaver passed on the 24th. How odd that two famous TV deputies would die on the same day. The other, of course, being Don Knotts. I had the pleasure of meeting Dennis Weaver on more than one occasion and found him to be a very nice man. He had some pretty radical views but that's what made him interesting.
To Jim Ruddle and other Chicago visitors - Berghoff's restaurant closes tomorrow in the Windy City - I won't be able to get down for meal while I am home in the 'burbs this week though. Won't be Chicago without it!
Jeff and interested others...over the course of the next week or so, I shall make a batch of Bean Chowder from EACH recipe posted. After doing so, I shall sit down and eat said chowder with a batch of Jiffy Cornbread on the side. After this carefully monitored test, I shall return here with the results of my Taste Test. Please ignore any news reports over the next week or so of loud razzberry sounds followed by the declaration of a Public Health Emergency in the South end of Sapulpa. The cause will simply be me testing the bean chowder! LOL
Ignore reports; check.
I too am saddened by the news of the passing of two fine actors. Don Knotts, aka: Bernard P. Fife absolutely made the Andy Griffith show, can you imagine the show with "Warren" from the start. I didn't think so. I enjoyed his movie roles as well, especially "No Time For Sergeants" but he will always be Barney Fife: Andy's sidekick and Thelma Lou's beau. He may be gone from this earth but we can always visit him and Mayberry about any time we want. It would not be Christmas without watching "A Christmas Story" at least once. Darren McGavin is so good as the grouchy but lovable dad. He also did a brilliant acting job in "The Natural". He was an actor with great range. I've been watching this guestbook literally on the edge of my chair over the great TPS Brown Bean Chowder debate. What a dog fight! Can't wait to see what happens next.
There's no replacing the Great Fife, but I did like Warren (Jack Burns) Ferguson's rapid-fire verbal tic, e.g.:
"May add more water for thickness desired on chili powder to season as needed." IIBC, "on" should read "or." As for the bread crumbs called for: Should they be the plain or seasoned variety, as if from cans? In any case, sorry for any perception of "nit-picking" this may have caused.
Nitpicking is not discouraged; correction made.
And, to correct my earlier oversight...thank you to Mike for his version of the Chowder. Either one sounds great to me! :)
I was doing the orchestra mix in the old Record Plant truck, as I recall. During the pre-event rehearsal I ran into him during a break. We chatted for a few minutes about the cold night air, our Holiday plans, etc. His last words as he laughed were "...so can I come sit with you in the truck if I get too cold?".... I only saw him again on-camera. The Candlelight event featured many celebrities as narrator over the years, but his was the all-time favorite. It aired on the Disney Channel from time-to-time in past years. Ahhh...memories.
That's sad. Darren McGavin did a one-season show in the mid-60s I really liked, "The Outsider". Maybe I identified with the beat-up car he drove. Some of that private eye's character traits were retained for "Kolchak".
My earlier mention of the hallowed friend->fiend substitution "joke" may have triggered a typo or two.
"Today at the Whimper Olympics in....." (quick correction on her part, but I think the lovely sounding lady and Scott Linder are both right on the first take.) On the fiend beat, I'm Delmeaux Gillette reporting.
Mike's mic appears to be the ElectroVoice RE-50 with the optional wind-gag. The RE-50 is still widely used for stand-ups and is fundamentally a 635 omni-capsule surrounded by a larger shock-mount shell to lessen handling noise and to increase durability. The optional wind-gag was a larger version of the one originally made for the RE-15, where it was necessary to cover the side entry ports which were required to maintain the RE-15's cardioid pattern. As the RE-50 is omni, I can only think that ElectroVoice chose to cover the handle of the mic so as to absorb the nervous sweat of fiend reporters.
All we need now is the recipe for TPS cinnamon rolls....
I'm leaning toward the latter, too. The one I put out there seemed inconsistent on the salt and chili pepper measurements.
I fixed Lionel's ty-paw-graphical error.
The wind sock insures safe miking.
But, apparently my old worn recipe was correct.
Brown Bean Chowder Tulsa Public Schools Recipe Serves 12
Ingredients:
1 lb. coarse ground beef
1 2/3 cups tomato puree Cook beans in three quarts water (or more depending on dryness of beans. When beans are nearly done, add 2 Tbsp. chili powder and 1 ½ Tsp salt. While beans are cooking, combine meat, onion and garlic and brown in skillet, stirring frequently. Add 1 2/3 cups tomato puree, 1 Tbsp. chili powder, 1 Tbsp salt and bread crumbs Combine meat mixture and beans. May add more water for thickness desired or chili powder to season as needed.
Also, "Sonik Re-entry" is fun to listen to. Thanks.
NOEL? All these years I thought it was LEON! I always assumed it was a salute to Leon Russell and his wife/girlfriend. All joking aside, I do remember them doing that. It seems like in recent years I've seen some building do a tree.
Believe it or not, I've previously exploited the reversibility of Noel-Leon (scroll down to just below Noel Confer made up as "Grandpappy Hawkins"). I consider this a comic achievement of the same order as substituting the word "fiend" for "friend".
...trying to crib up a batch of TPS "Bean Chowder". My mom clipped an "Action Line" item out of the Tulsa World back in the 80s that gave the recipe for TPS's "Bean Chowder". She made it a few times and it was wonferdul!! Any chance that someone out there has that recipe written down on an index card somewhere and would be willing to share it with a Po' Boy from Kellyville who has waaayyy too many beans and waaaayyyy too much time on his hands?
TPS Brown Bean Chowder
It is now available from Authorhouse but WARNING: the excerpt is definitely R-rated, dealing candidly and unblinkingly with sex, drugs 'n' Tulsa TV. I strongly recommend anyone who might be uncomfortable with that to NOT, I repeat, NOT click this Authorhouse link. Here is a G-rated promo page.
I hope I remember that correctly, that Howard Johnsons were running the plazas during the U.N.C.L.E years. In fact I think I saw Illya Kuryakin pull into the plaza disguised as a Charles Chips delivery man, he said he was on the "Counterfeit Chip Caper" and to quit bugging him. I got my three-dip cone and moved on down the road.
It's my understanding that the super-secret HQ of "U.N.C.L.E" (as in "The Man From--" and a short-lived spinoff, "The Girl From--") was supposedly underneath a cornfield somewhere between Tulsa and OKC. Would it be, perhaps, stretching things to picture the Stroud Service Plaza on the Turner Turnpike as a "front," so to speak, for U.N.C.L.E.'s HQ?
Perhaps.
Our Meadow Gold man was Ed. We had the metal box on the front porch he would leave it in. I remember I took one of my Topps "Make Your Own Name Ugly Sticker" and put his name on it. (I found a picture of the sticker at this site OddRods.com) I proceeded to put it under the lid so he would see it when he raised it.
One more milk story...Like my friend Charles in an earlier post, our mom also got the milk in the square plastic jug. I believe it held 2 1/2 gallons. There was a spigot that screwed in the front of it. When it was empty, you would unscew it and put it on the new one. Anyway, one summer my cousin Mike Witte from Nevada, Missouri came down for a visit. His first morning there, he went to the kitchen for a glass of milk. Not being familiar with how it worked, Mike completely unscrewed the spigot which released a torrent of milk onto the kitchen floor. Before he could stop it, about a gallon leaked out. Of course us kids were howling with laughter watching him trying to stop the flow. Almost 40 years later Mike still brings that incident up. Talk about weird, as I was reading about the Fuller Brush man and other home delivery stories, my doorbell rang. It was a door to door Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman. Too bad it wasn't the Charles Chips man as I would have been more receptive! Anyone remember "Pop Shoppe" Pop and "Favor Flavors"?
If you haven't visited lately, there's been a few updates over at Lost Tulsa...ORU in Decay, some new photos of Tulsa signage and posterity pics of the former Peaches handprints.
Excellent work over there, Tom. I caught your OETA appearance. I thought you did quite well; I sure liked your performance better than mine on similar shows.
I found web sites for both topics. Charles Chips. And they still have the tan can. Two web sites for Jewel T: IRememberHamlet.com; and ChinaSpecialties.com.
And I too remember the old TG&Y store out on North Peoria at the McLain Shopping center.I used to also walk to an original A-framed A&W Root Beer shop. Those were the best frosty mugged root beer floats in the world. And what about the old Melody and Small fry ice cream trucks that would make you run full steam to the house to beg for ice cream money...Again Priceless.
Was it Don Woods, Cy Tuma--or who exactly?
Not sure who, but I believe neither of those Channel 8 gentlemen.
But one I have not seen mentioned yet is the Charles Chips home delivery service. They were probably the best potato chips I've ever eaten in my life. They were brought to your door in a large, light brown (beige?) can, kinda like the ones you find at Wal-Mart around Christmastime which contain 3 types of (usually stale) popcorn. After the chips were all gone, you'd return the can to the delivery person to be recycled with your next order. Like I said, they were great & one of my fondest childhood/teenage memories. I've never seen them in the grocery stores, so apparently they no longer exist even in that retail format. Anyone else remember Charles Chips?
Thank you Webmaster for the Orin's Fine Pizza ad, now if I can only figure out what those young ladies were saying. Education is wasted on the young! Please tell me about the Jewel-T man. Is he some kind of superhero that leaps tall buildings in a single bound or is he akin to the Fuller Brush dude and the Stanley guy? The latter two sold home products i.e., cleaning agents, brushes, etc., and they would always leave a small gift for listening to their pitch. (Side note: There is a movie starring William C. Macy about a door-to-door salesman with a handicap who sells home products ("Door to Door"). "Bill" faces both physical and societal challenges with a never-quit attitude. Based on a true story and very inspirational. I give it **** stars. God, I sound like Rex Reed.) Are the Easleys who are in Oklahoma politics and recently in the news any relation to the Easleys mentioned in an earlier post? And finally... Do you think $1.00 stores are the new TG&Y and Kresses of the twenty-first century? Webmaster, I have passed Gas and I'm never going back. I promise!
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Gary Chew (via email to webmaster)
Lee Woodward
King
Lionel
Comments: Former Tulsa anchor/newsman Mike Miller
has written a new book about his career in radio, television, and politics:
How High Can A Guy Stoop?
The next time he showed up I hid in the bushes to see his reaction.
He raised the lid, deposited the milk and left. I'm not sure if he even saw
it but it was all this 8 year old boy could do to keep from laughing out
loud. That sticker remained on that lid from then on.
